The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for preparing specimens on glass slides suitable for viewing under high magnification such as by a microscope.
Although the present invention has generally utility in preparing all types of microscope slides and slide specimens, there is a particular need for a more automatic and efficient process for preparing biological or medical specimens for diagnosing and treating medical conditions. To a large extent modern medical practice depends upon the laboratory tests which may be conducted on specimens obtained from the patient.
The analysis of blood samples from the patient is an extremely valuable tool. Usually the blood specimens are analyzed by preparing blood smears on microscopic slides and subjectinfg the blood smear specimen to microscopic viewing. For this purpose in order to prepare a blood smear for lab testing, fresh whole blood is smeared on to a standard laboratory glass slide and thereafter a staining solution is applied to the smear in order to bring out or enhance the viewability thereof. Following the staining operation, a separate process is performed to apply a buffering solution which fixes or stabilizers the stained specimen so that it remains in a relatively permanent state during the microscopic analysis. Still another operation must be performed after the buffering, the that is to place the slides in an oven or the like to evaporate any remaining liquid and thus to dry the blood smear, stain solution and buffering solution. This completes the preparation process.
Although in small laboratories where only a few slides are prepared at a time, the foregoing individual operations may not be too disadvantageous. However in much larger laboratories for example those associated with a large metropolitan hospital, the foregoing technique of preparing slides is wholly inefficient, occupying too much of the laboratory technician's time and tending to produce nonuniformity in the prepared slides. Additionally, the increased handling of the glass slides typically necessitated by the various individual processing steps, to leads to more accidental breakage of the glass slides and loss of specimens.